Vivarium
by Hachiki
Summary: [EXO MAMA fanfic] EXO is a group of young men whose supernatural abilities unite them and drive humans away. For those young men, the Earth serves as less a home and more a vivarium. (KaixLuhan as of chapter 7, with more to come)
1. Foreword

**Foreword**

**vivarium** (vaɪˈvɛərɪəm)  
— **n** , pl -**iums** , -**ia**  
a place where live animals are kept under natural conditions for study, research, etc

**Kai, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Sehun, Suho.**  
Teleportation, earth, flame, light, wind, water.  
**Chen, Xiumin, Lay, Luhan, Tao, Kris.**  
Lightning, frost, healing, telepathy, time control, flight.

Elements and bizarre occurrences are present all throughout the universe. According to man, Earth is the most important thing in the world. But what is normal on Earth may not be normal elsewhere. Humans happen to have a tendency to react strongly, and often badly, to things they consider abnormal.

Boys with the power to easily bend the ways of the world are, unsurprisingly, first on humanity's list of abnormalities.


	2. One

Most people went to see a doctor when they saw things in flashes.

Most people didn't_ move_ in flashes.

Kim Jong In, better known as Kai, liked to think that most people didn't de- and re-materialize over great distances in only seconds. He never had to think that he would suddenly not be one of those people. But when he stormed away from a friend after a fight in his neighborhood on a rainy night, felt a sudden pain in and against his skull (though he was pretty sure his buddy wouldn't knock him over the head with a blunt object) and opened his eyes to find himself in a hot, dry place that he had never been before... Well, it serves to say that Kai came to the realization that he was not, in fact, like most people.

Shuffling here and there and kicking up hot sand that in turn caked on his rain-soaked clothes, Kai looked around for anything familiar. Where he had previously been shielding his eyes from the rain, he was now using both hands for shade against the burning sun. The stinky water in his T-shirt, jeans, and awfully expensive shoes was dripping and drying in weird places, and Kai would have been upset over how dirty he was if he wasn't already preoccupied with how he'd just _teleported_.

_'I was just there.'_ he thought to himself,_ 'I just ran out the door, and I was going up the street, I was so mad...'_ He kept turning his head from side to side, squinting and scrunching his face up in an expression that wasn't the best-looking. '_It was raining,'_ he recalled,_ 'and it was gross. But now it's all hot and sunny and gross.'_

"What the hell?" Kai said aloud, turning on his sleek tennis-shoe heel. As much strained staring and confused squeaking as he had done since he first arrived at the beach, he still had no idea what was going on. The pang of pain from his instantaneous traveling had disappeared long before, but it was soon replaced with nausea from anxiety, repulsion at the smell of grungy rainwater, and tiredness from the heat.

Flapping his arms and walking in circles frantically a few more times, Kai decided he ought to start walking. He looked down at the water splashing the sand and thought _nope_. He could obviously teleport, but walking on water wasn't something he was going to try any time soon. After coming to that conclusion, he turned in the direction facing away from the ocean and thought _alright_. Going farther inland would get him to other people soon enough.

_'Ok,'_ Kai thought, shaking himself off, '_You can do this! Just endure for a while- it'll be like one of those survival shows on T.V. You'll get back home soon enough!'_ He started to walk, giving himself pep talks every now and then.

Feeling the tug of thirst in his throat only minutes after going out in the scorching heat, Kai was doubting his ability to continue. His life was flashing before him, and for the second time he became anxious. The dark-haired boy felt his stomach fall and his eyes sting. He had hoped this was only a dream, but his dreams had never been so colorful, uncomfortable, long and grueling before. His clothes and his mind felt heavy.

He had been angry right before then, but he had been in a nice little house with electricity and food and people he cared about. His mother and father had let him have a friend over and the boy had willingly invited Sehun. Sehun had been acting odd up to that time, and their relationship hadn't experienced any pleasantness in quite a while. Though Kai was a bit irritated with his friend's loner behavior, he still wanted to spend time with the other boy. Never did he think that they might get into an argument, screaming and knocking things around even with Kai's parents in the house, or that he might leave his own property in a fit of anger.

Along with those things, he never guessed that he might travel to an unknown beach in a second's time. But there he was, trekking along with his head down and his eyes closed to the sun and the throbbing pain in his head, with the cool air surrounding him and the raindrops pelting down-

Wait.

Kai quickly opened his eyes only to be blinded by drops of water, and then slip on the wet asphalt. The six feet that made up his height were suddenly horizontal, and the pain in his head that had been disappearing was back full-on. His knee had hit the ground first (and sadly his shoe was scuffed and his jeans torn) but his flower-boy face followed soon after. With something between an unpleasant smacking noise and an oddly low thunk, Kai fell through the centimeter of rainwater on the ground and onto the dark road.

As he slowly pushed himself off of the ground, staring in shock at the huge puddle he was lying in, and fortunately unable to see the reflection of his red, scratched-up face, he heard the slamming of a door and footsteps splashing. Moments after the door had been closed, Kai's friend Sehun was at his side.

"Dude! What happened?" the blond yelled, sending aching sound waves through Kai's skull. Kai sputtered awkwardly, water and a few tiny pieces of grass flying off of his lips. At another time, Sehun probably would have laughed at the boy on the ground, especially because of the fish-like huffing noises he was making, but the blond had enough sense not to laugh at the moment. He was still mad about the fight earlier, shocked that Kai had run away from his own home for any amount of time, and worried that the other boy might have gone out and done something he'd regret later. Sehun wanted a clear answer, and he hoped they would be able to carry on a calm conversation.

But all he and Kai really manage at the moment was to gasp and question.

"K-Kai!" Sehun stammered, bending his legs and his back to help the kneeling Kai get on his feet. "Seriously," he said, pulling the other up by his bare arms, "What happened?" He let go and started gesturing wildly at the other boy's disheveled body, making weirder noises than Kai had. "You- ugh, what- you- seriously, what?" Sehun jumbled and craned his neck, looking at Kai like what he'd said was totally clear, waiting for an answer. Kai stared blankly back at him. Or really, he stared at something, or nothing, because he didn't seem able to focus.

"I... I just- I..." Clearly, something the two friends had in common was stuttering when in shock. They also shared their ability to block out the ice-cold rain soaking their nice clothes, but not for long. Kai stood silently for a few seconds, just trying to gather his thoughts as Sehun put a spotlight on him, and suddenly something clicked in his mind. He looked at Sehun, actually _at_ him this time, and slowly shook his head.

"I guess I was just looking for somewhere to go," Kai replied to his friend's question. He took a step back from Sehun and nodded his head. "Yeah," he continued, smiling awkwardly, "I ran around the neighborhood til I cooled off, y'know?" He looked up through the slowing drizzle and held out his hand to gather droplets, finishing his story with, "Literally."

Sehun was quiet for a while after that, simply staring at Kai until the rain came to a full stop. "Oh," he said softly, finally averting his eyes. Looking down at the ground, the he cleared his throat. "OK... Well, uh, I guess we should go inside now." The excitement from moments ago was now a stiffness in both of them. Sehun tucked his hands in his pockets and took a step toward the house before Kai even realized that they had changed the topic.

"Oh, yeah." was Kai's late reply. They both set into wobbly movement, straining to take comfortable steps in their damp jeans.

"Wait," Sehun suddenly called, though Kai had opened the door already. "Did you drop something?" he asked the boy on the doorstep.

"Uh... No, not that I remember-"

"OK, well, I'll go get it."

Kai peered after his retreating friend, totally lost. The day had been enough trouble, so he shrugged it off and entered the open door. Sehun waited until the door was closed for a small amount of time before looking back. The rapid beating of his heart slowed to an almost normal pace. He had been afraid that he would either have panicked over Kai's safety or yelled at the temperamental boy. That was the reason he had started avoiding the other boy in the first place- he didn't want to go off. He thought he'd be fine after a few days away from Kai and everyone else, but he was wrong and things almost went sour. If that had happened, something terrible could have followed.

Sehun looked out into the sky as the clouds over Kai's house began to clear. Everything seemed to be calming down, and he was glad for that. He took in a deep breath to finish relaxing his body. Exhaling, he ran a hand through his hair to fight the wind blowing past him.

Hopefully, he thought, everything would be OK.

As the rain poured down and harsh winds rushed between houses and over the land in the distance, it was entirely expected that some people were experiencing the storm differently. In one place, the water pelting the ground hid the unnatural vibration of the Earth beneath the feet of a small boy. In another place, lightning struck awfully close to where a mellow teenager was standing. Nearby, the air around his friend was disturbingly cold.

"This is crazy, Chen," said Kim Minseok, thoughtlessly grabbing his friend's hand and stepping behind him to get away from the lightning, though it was very unlikely that he'd be electrified. Kim Jongdae, or Chen, had trouble averting his attention from the light-streaked sky. He only looked down when he felt the hairs on his arm stand up at the other boy's ice-cold touch.

"Yeah..." Chen breathed as his friend realized how close they were and backed away. He looked down over his shoulder and laughed, his deep voice almost lost in the pitter-patter of the rain. "Isn't it amazing, Xiumin?" he asked, biting his bottom lip with a smile and turning his awe-filled eyes back to the sky. He took in a deep breath, his shoulders rearing back, and the older but smaller Minseok, nicknamed Xiumin, stopped breathing as he waited to see what his friend was about to do.

Suddenly Chen screamed out toward the open land beneath the hill they were standing on, and the clouds appeared to crack with blindingly bright light. Xiumin let out a surprised laugh which was quite like a gasp and the grass around him grew frosty. Chen took note when the previously soft grass crunched under his feet.

"Xiumin!" the tall boy said excitedly, grinning at his friend. "This is_ us_! _We_ are making this happen!" Xiumin laughed, for that statement was obvious, but he was the type of person to encourage someone to go on about whatever they were excited about, so he nodded for Chen to continue.

And that's what the other boy did. Chen grabbed Xiumin's hands and began to pull him around, spinning them both and hopping up and down like a child. "Xiumin, Xiumin!" he sang, lightning bursting in the background. Instead of saying any more than a name, he settled on making garbled and cheerful noises. The rain began to slow down, but the lightning seemed to show up even more. Chen continued to turn in circles with Xiumin, occasionally crushing the bits of ice left by Xiumin's light steps.

"Ooh! Aah!" Chen admired his electric handiwork jokingly, letting Xiumin go and waving his own hands in arcs as lightning zigzagged in front of him. He started to speak in a loud announcer voice, "Here we have Chen who, while he isn't the best at brewing coffee, can control lightning!"

Xiumin clapped to humor him, and Chen said, "And here is the lovely Xiumin who is remarkably better at making a good cup o' joe, and whose powers might come in handy for some iced coffee!" Xiumin feigned shock at being mentioned, and posed with his hands cupping his face, being sure to add a nice puff of icy fog to the movement. He was the sheepish type, but he wasn't afraid to act silly with someone as free as Chen.

While the pair of college kids weren't _super_ close, they shared a lot of traits- the biggest being _superpowers_. In any other case, the somewhat reserved Xiumin would likely still have met and befriended the charismatic Chen, for there was a chance for an interesting relationship to develop even before Chen saw the smaller boy freeze a glass of soda with only his hands at a party they had both been invited to.

Still, Chen was glad that he'd found someone to tell his secret, and glad that Xiumin was both too quiet and too polite to spread it. He found it odd and great that two people in one area might be gifted with abilities like theirs, and he wondered if there was anyone else like them out there. But, as he gazed at the laughing, light-skinned boy beside him, Chen didn't mind it that they were the only two people like them.

On the contrary, a pouty younger boy in another part of town was struggling with the same thing that those two stangers on a hill were finding delight in. As the rain died down but the vibration of the ground continued, his secret was bordering on being revealed. Do Kyungsoo fidgeted in his seat, tapping his foot almost as fast as the rhythmic shaking of the floor.

_'Holy crap,'_ he thought, _'just stop.' _Whether that thought was aimed at his person or at his actions was momentarily unclear to the boy himself. _'D.O.,'_ he thought out his own nickname, deciding he'd talk to himself rather than his power, _'I swear, if you don't stop right now...'_

What was he going to do? Beat himself up? Cause a bigger earthquake and knock himself over? Kyungsoo didn't know, but he_ swore_. His power had no mind, so it couldn't have known what Kyungsoo was threatening it with, but luckily for the nervous boy it stopped.

"Yes!" Kyungsoo meant to say in his thoughts but actually spoke aloud, doing a tiny celebratory fist pump. As quietly as he had hissed the word and as small as his fist pump had been, his friends had noticed.

"Are... are you okay?" questioned Byun Baekhyun, he and Park Chanyeol looking at the antsy boy with confusion apparent in their features.

"Mm, yeah. Yes." Kyungsoo told them, nodding his head. They said ok and began to turn away, but looked back when he kept going, "Mmhmm. Yep. Totally." Chanyeol was somewhere between amused and annoyed, though usually Kyungsoo would be annoyed with him. The boys all had sort of love-hate relationships, and it could be said that the person who kept their friendships strong was Kai, but he wasn't present and things were getting weird.

"Okay, D.O., we get it." said Baekhyun, chuckling. Chanyeol nodded in agreement, staring Kyungsoo down. Then, he looked past the boy he didn't know could shake parts of the planet and saw that the cafe window was much less wet than it had been some time ago.

"Hey, the rain cleared up, it's safe to head out." Chanyeol spoke up, calling attention to himself. The few strangers at tables and the pair of workers behind the counter noticed and started to shuffle about. His group of three all stood up, pushing their chairs and stools in with loud creaks.

Chanyeol walked out first and everyone blamed the sudden coolness on the open door. Baekhyun followed, and the building seemed a little bit darker without him. Kyungsoo was last in the line of friends, and there was a little bounce to his step now that he had his power under control. He walked without fear of creating gaps in the grass or sidewalk out front, and he followed behind his friends quietly in the few moments before he had to leave.

"Alright," he said, patting his hands against his thighs as they reached the end of the street, "I guess this is it." Chanyeol and Baekhyun smiled at him and each said their goodbyes. Kyungsoo was polite with a "hope to see you later" before he hurried away. Man, was he glad to go home and relax.

At home in bed with no need to look proper and calm in public, he didn't have to worry about, say, his friends falling through a crack in the ground because of him. Hey, he thought to himself, he had subdued it today, so surely he'd be able to do it in the future!

Totally.


	3. Two

A tall and slender young man crouched low on the floor, one leg straight out with his foot flat on the ground, the other bent carefully beneath him in a stance that would allow him to jump into movement at any second. His body was in a perfect form of Fu Hu Bu, and he stayed balanced as he tapped a long white wax wood staff against the wood panel floor to the rhythm of the raindrops that could be heard landing on the shingled roof of the small training hall.

Directly in the martial artist's line of vision were two of his friends, the small, dark-haired Kim Jun Myeon, known to him as Suho, and the much larger, light-haired Wu Yi Fan, called Kris. They stared at him cautiously with their lips pressed tight and their shoulders pulled in.

"This is cool and all, Tao," Suho addressed the crouching blond in a slightly squeaky voice, "but it might be better if you weren't looking at us like we were actually about to fight." The blocky blond beside him slowly nodded his head, never taking his eyes off of the dangerous man across the room.

"The face comes with the pose." Tao said those silly words with a serious face as he began to stand. "But watch this," he told them, straightening up smoothly and moving his hands close together on the staff. As he began to spin it, his fingers seemed to glint. He built up speed and soon the stick looked like a brown blur in the air. Then it started slowing down, and Tao began to bend his legs again as he turned to pin his whole body, and for a moment his friends thought only he was moving slowly.

When Tao raised up into the air and Suho and Kris had time to see each bone in his body straighten out, and to see each little piece of dust rise up as Tao's feet left the floor, they realized that Tao hadn't just started acting like he was in slow-mo, but time itself had slowed down. The sitting pair turned excitedly to each other, laughing and cheering, their voices distorted by the change in time.

By the time they turned back, Tao was making turns in the air, one leg straight up in a way that could have been a ballerina's arabesque penché were he still standing. As he came to a landing, time returned to its normal speed and Kris and Suho began to clap.

"Yay! Go Tao!" Suho yelled with a big smile on his face. Kris kept nodding his head, clapping slowly with his hands curved to make sure he was making a lot of noise. The stoic expression on Tao's face faded into blush and a tight lipped smile.

"Thank you!" he said, leaning and bouncing on his feet, cupping his face and giggling in a bashful way. Tao's friends laughed with him as Suho got to his feet. Kris stayed on the ground, leaning back and keeping himself up with his elbows as he watched the other two. Tao felt his stomach flutter when Suho stepped over to him, smiling brightly with only good words to say.

"It's so cool that you can do that," Suho breathed, his eyes filled with awe. Everyone he knew sort of treated him like an accessory, or like he wasn't worth much, but he really did have some good things to offer as a friend. Genuine compliments were a plus of knowing little old Suho.

As well as being a generally nice boy, Suho was good at picking up skills. He learning things like dance moves and fighting stances rather easily, and that came in handy when Tao offered to teach he and Kris a bit of Wushu. The fighting style served as both a showcase of Tao's athletic and supernatural abilities and a way to defend himself from anyone who might try to harm him. It was a useful thing for the others to learn, but Kris was having none of it. He was still on his butt on the floor.

"Hey, Kris," Suho called, turning half-way around, "Are you going to get up anytime soon?" Though no one would force him to do anything, Kris could tell that was a hypothetical question and his friends expected him to join the activities. With a sigh that would have been more fitting of someone Tao's age, the eldest of the group stood up and sauntered over.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked in a voice that sounded deeper than usual. With his eyes half-closed and his lips slightly pursed, it was obvious that Kris was sleepy, so Tao and Suho were sure they couldn't get him to do anything really intense at the moment. They looked him over and Suho brightened up.

"Just stand there and let Tao practice on you." he said, beaming up at the taller man. Kris shrugged at first, and then felt something click in his head, but when he finally got the thought through his head to protest Suho and Tao had already backed away to the other side of the room and Tao had pointed his staff outward.

"Wait-" cried Kris, swinging his hands up in front of himself.

"Don't move!" ordered Tao, getting the staff spinning for the second time. He began to take quick steps toward the other blond, swinging the long stick from side to side and letting his mind become focused. He rushed over to the freaked-looking Kris. As soon as he was close enough to reach Kris with the wood, Tao swung the staff down above his head. Kris closed his eyes to the incoming blow and flinched, waiting for the pain. It never came. He opened his eyes to see Tao's once again cutesy face across from him, the staff blocking his view somewhat.

"Did you... did you think I was going to hit you?" Tao asked slowly, almost as if he were speaking to a child. Kris scoffed like he was going to object to that question, but he said "Yes! Yes I did." Tao dissolved into laughter.

"It's not funny," Kris snapped, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smacking the end of the staff out of his way. "What was I supposed to think? He said practice _on_ you- what's funny about that?" He huffed and and stuck out his lips in annoyance. His mouth was already the most distinct part of his face, and poking his lips out in a pout made him look even weirder than usual. Across the room, Suho started chuckling as well.

"Ok!" Suho's voice carried through the training hall, "How about he really practices on you this time?" Tao was shaking with laughter, covering the bottom of his face with one hand, and Kris was glaring at him, but they both said ok. Tao went back to the other side of the room and fought off his laughs, his shoulders shaking a little as he pointed the staff at Kris.

"I won't hit you hard," Tao told his friend. "So don't make that ugly face again," he added more quietly. Although Kris didn't hear him, he stood tall on the other side. In seconds, Tao was repeating the movements he had just done before, and there ought to have been some videogame battle music playing in the background. Tao bounded closer and closer, waving the staff about until the very last second when, _whap!_, he hit Kris in the chest.

Kris was barely moved. He rocked a bit on his feet, and blinked down at the wood touching his shirt. He grinned and got ready to boast about how he hadn't even felt it.

"Did you think you were going to knock me backwards? Like this?" He wobbled and leaned backwards as if he'd taken a stronger blow. Then he laughed and suddenly he was blown backwards and upwards into the corner where the wall met the ceiling. Suho and Tao's eyes were the widest he had ever seen them, and their faces were frozen with gaping smiles as their eyes followed Kris's body to the floor.

"Um..." Suho mumbled in time with the thunk of Kris falling. His mouth was open while he turned to Tao and pointed with both hands at the moaning and groaning Kris. "_Whaaat_?" he finished, dragging the word out and doing a weird little hand dance. Tao looked at him, then at Kris, and back to him. Then he began to laugh again.

"I thought you said you didn't have any powers," Tao said, walking with Suho over to their grumpy friend. Suho stooped to help Kris up, Kris swung at Tao from the ground, and Tao bounced away on his tiptoes, cupping his face like he had earlier. Suho succeeded in helping Kris stand, and the tall man curled his lips back.

"Well I guess I do," Kris said in a sassy puff of breath.

"Then this practice session wasn't useless!" Tao was all smirks. Suho let go of the now-aching Kris (he could walk it off) and stretched.

"So I guess that's it?" he inquired, his curious eyes adding to his boyish charm. Kris and Tao both seemed to think yes. At that, Tao went to put the staff he'd been using where it belonged, and then they all headed out the door. They were greeted with one of the worst climates: cold humidity.

"Ah, it feels awful out here," Tao hissed with a cringe.

"I can help!" Suho piped from the other side of Kris. With a wave of his hand, the wetness in the air condensed and fell in sheets a small distance away from him. "You know, with all our powers, we could make a good team!"

Kris, who was usually a pretty nice guy, was still a little out of it after sending himself flying through the air. "That's never going to happen," he said, walking ahead of them and disappearing into the darkness. Tao put forth almost no effort in resisting clicking his teeth and Suho bounced his shoulders up once. They both thought it wise not to bother their friend at the moment.

Closed within the walls of an expensive condo, a different pair of young men were not making use of their wisdom, happily having a staring contest in the middle of a storm that seemed to be sending their mind-based super powers out of control. Zhang Yixing, or Lay's, healing wasn't something to be all too worried about, but the older yet more playful Lu Han was both telepathic and telekinetic, therefore more dangerous.

Staring into the mischievous, glittering eyes of his senior, Lay worried every now and then that he might suddenly be prompted to smack himself in the face. Luckily, that moment never came, but Lu Han's tiny smile beneath his wide, unblinking eyes was still unnerving. After almost a minute of silent staring, Lay's ears picked up a new noise apart from the rain washing the house. Luhan, whose name was often shortened into one word for friendliness and ease in writing/speaking, pressed his lips together and began to let his eyes flick this way and that, his snickering laughter easily heard by the other concentrated male.

Lay slowly let his head tilt to the side, his wide smile growing with each degree turned. "It's alright, Luhan, just give up." he said, the sardonic nature of his tone rather unexpected of him. Luhan gave a short squeal of laughter and bit his lip to hold in the tears gathering in his eyes. Lay continued to stare, his eyes faring better than his friend's, and even tossed his side-parted hair as if he were entirely relaxed and not at all wishing to stop before his eyes popped. Luhan, however, knew differently.

"That's some colorful language you're using there!" Luhan commented on his silent friend's thoughts. Lay responded with a reserved nod of his head, calmly trying to blank out his mind. Luhan observed the change in Lay's thoughts from curse words to a series of hums and "no's" and he couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"Pfaha!" the small boy burst, closing his eyes tight and covering his face with his thin hands. If someone had been able to see him through a window at that moment, they might have mistaken him for a child or a petite woman. But no, he was a grown man rocking with laughter after reading the mind of another grown man who had just beaten him in a staring contest.

Lay closed his eyes and laughed as well, sighing in relief as he leaned back in his wooden chair. Luhan groaned in a humorous way and wiped and fanned at his eyes. In that moment, a warm, tingling sensation washed over him and remedied the ache in his head. Furthermore, the dull tightness that had been in his shoulder for the past week and the pain from his leg falling asleep were gone, too. A grateful grin spread across his baby face and he clapped his hands.

"Good game!" Luhan cheered, "And thanks!"

"Right back at you," was Lay's reply. He clapped his hands against his thighs, pushed gently against the table to ease his movement out of his seat, and stood up. Luhan was still sitting up straight in his seat, smiling up at the other man. Lay trailed away in the direction of the kitchen area of his studio apartment, clearly intent on finding or making something to eat.

As Lay opened a cabinet and grabbed some sort of powder to brew, his friend's voice came cheerily from behind him: "I'm actually not in the mood for that root flavor. That green tea there doesn't seem half bad, though." Lay, whose body was fully blocking the view of the cabinet from the table, smiled and huffed through his nose and then took his hand off of the taro tea to instead grab the box of green tea near it.

"Was it really necessary to read my mind to find out which drinks I was looking at? You could have requested something, or come up to see for yourself..." Lay spoke loudly and clearly, looking down at the cup he was working on with a small smile on his face.

"Didn't want to breathe down your neck."

Just by hearing those chirped words, Lay could imagine the cheeky eyelash fluttering and cutesy smirking going on behind him. The thought of Luhan acting out his pun made the friendly man absentmindedly reach a hand up to rub the nape of his neck. Luhan chuckled at the table. Settling on glancing back at Luhan every now and then with an exaggerated look of suspicion, Lay didn't reply to Luhan with words.

For a few moments, they both just did a bunch of silly movements- Luhan becoming deathly still with a caught-in-the-act expression on his face every time Lay glanced over his shoulder, Lay grabbing random ingredients and acting like he was adding them to the tea, and Luhan wiggling his fingers beside his temples to remind his friend of his oh-so-dangerous mind powers. They went back and forth like that in the time that it took the tea to brew, and Lay brought it to the table in mugs rather than teacups. As Luhan got his hands on the warm ceramic, his self-amused laughter died down and his impish smile became an endearing one.

"Thanks again," he said, looking down into his cup, still smiling faintly. The warmth from the tea and from Luhan's behavior gave Lay a pleasant feeling in his chest and he could only smile back.

"You're welcome," Lay smoothly replied. He didn't need to ask for what, though there was a chance Luhan may not have been talking about the steamy beverage. Whether it was serving drinks, sharing an apartment, or just giving him a shoulder to lean on, Lay was happy to help Luhan. While Lay wasn't a mind reader, he could tell something was weighing on his friend under the jokes and sass.

"I'm worried." Luhan's voice was abruptly serious. The man in front of him straightened up to get ready for what might be a long talk. Again he asked no questions, but Luhan continued. "I'm worried about us. This storm has me feeling really odd and..." as he spoke, he bit his lips and tapped his fingers against one another. He trailed off and his eyes dropped. "I don't know," he rushed, "I just don't know." Lay raised an eyebrow but stayed silent for Luhan to gather his thoughts. After a bit of staring into the cooling tea, Luhan started up again.

"Do you feel it, too?" he asked, meeting Lay's eyes and speaking quietly under the noise of the slowing rain. "The impression that something is happening, or is going to happen. Something big. I know we've been doing okay with our powers up til now, and it's been fun, but everything still seems unsafe. We've never done anything huge, never cause any accidents or pain, but lately I've been having trouble controlling it and I know you have, too."

The grim look in Luhan's eyes was out of place in his soft face as he asked, "What do we do if things get worse?"

Lay almost flinched at that question. He didn't have a sure response. "I'm sure everything will be ok," he said at first, nodding to reinforce his words. "We'll just have to think about what we're going to do. Don't worry about it. What trouble are we really going to cause with mind reading and healing, anyway?" Luhan smiled and gave a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Wait," Lay said once he'd gotten a cheerful look from Luhan, "You weren't planning to destroy my reputation by gossiping about my thoughts, were you?" Luhan giggled this time. "Well," he continued as he stood up to go rinse his mug, "if you thought you were going to embarrass me with that one memory of drinking the water from a goldfish bowl, you're out of luck!"

"I know you made that up," Luhan said, urged to stick his tongue out. Lay looked over his shoulder and mouthed Luhan's words with a silly look on his face. Luhan scoffed and got out of his chair only to plop down on the nearby couch and send glares at the other's back. When Lay finished drying his hands and his cup, he sat next to the sleepy-looking Luhan.

"It's late, huh?" he asked, looking for the living room clock. "You can go to sleep if you want to, you know." Luhan nodded his head, his hair flopping about.

"I think I will," he said, falling sideways into Lay's lap. Lay laughed and moved them both to a more comfortable position and Luhan grumbled jokingly.

"Do you think if I read your mind while we're falling asleep, we'll have the same dream?" he questioned without looking up.

"I don't know. I doubt it." Lay replied.

"Whatever. You'll probably dream about me anyway."

Lay could hear the drowsy smile in Luhan's voice as they drifted off.


	4. Three

"Wake up, Kai. Your friend Baekhyun is here."

At the urging of his mother's soft voice, the wavy-haired, dry-eyed Kai pushed himself upward and let his covers gather at his waist. He held up a hand as confirmation of his awakened state, and to get her to stop calling his name.

"I'm up," he said almost incoherently. He wobbled on his mattress and his mom smiled at him.

"I would have woken you sooner, but it's a Sunday and I didn't know he'd be coming by," she explained. She had noticed that he seemed shaken when he came home out of the rain the night before and she wasn't against letting her son have some much-needed rest. As such, she let him sleep in past nine a.m. and only woke him when his friend came by. Later, Kai would be sincerely grateful.

"It's fine," Kai told the aging woman, patting one of her hands as they rested on his covers. "Thank you." She nodded and said you're welcome before standing and letting him step out of his bed.

"Baekhyun's downstairs. Don't make him wait long!" she called as she left the room with a smile. Staring after her, Kai regained his energy and gave a small chuckle. Then he went about his room, grabbing some clean clothes to wear and fixing himself up in the mirror. As he looked at his reflection and combed his hair, the memories of last night came back to him.

The childish argument, the teleportation, and the awkward way he and Sehun had acted once he got back home... Those things were the source of the uneasy feeling sitting in Kai's chest. Looking back on how he'd blown up in Sehun's face about how distanced they had been lately, he could only hope that he hadn't made the rough patch in their relationship even coarser.

_"I shouldn't be thinking about that right now,"_ he told himself with a shake of his head, _"Baekhyun's waiting. I need to relax." _After one final glance in the mirror, Kai made the trip downstairs clad in an off-white shirt, dark navy blazer, and black twill pants with a pair of black loafers in hand. While he wasn't exactly a showy person, he tried to look a little more than just decent most of the time. As it happened, nice clothes _and_ lazy, thrown-together looked good on him, but he and his friends preferred to go just this side of fancy.

Downstairs, the same could be said for Baekhyun. Kai came down the stairs to see his friend looking at home on the family sofa in a graphic tee with an unbuttoned vest over it plus a pair of black designer jeans. In his hands was a red beanie and his red high-tops were set by the door. Baekhyun's eyes lit up when he saw Kai, and the expression along with his outfit made him look both like a male model and a little boy. As the older boy scrambled to his feet and said his excited thank you's goodbyes to Kai's parents, Kai determined that Baekhyun was indeed more like a child.

"We'll be back soon," Baekhyun vowed as he backed towards the door. He and Kai slipped on their shoes and went on their way, but not before Kai thanked his parents for the permission to leave.

Once the door was closed behind them, Baekhyun let out a sigh. "I've been trying to unwind and hang out with everyone while I've got time, but it's been hard!"

"What are you talking about? It's almost summer break- what's the rush?" Kai raised an eyebrow as they walked along the sidewalk. Baekhyun crammed his hands in his pockets and scrunched up his nose.

"It doesn't feel like summer," he said, "but at the same time, it does. I don't know, university is different from high school, you know? I'm trying to even out my friend time and my book time before I really have to crack down."

"I know how you feel," Kai told him with a laugh. "But the high school seniors have it hard, too. I was surprised I got Sehun to come over yesterday will all the studying he's got to be doing." He was smiling when he first started talking, but that one memory flashed in his head again and he fell quiet and blank-faced. Baekhyun didn't notice and kept chatting away.

"Ah, that kid!" Baekhyun laughed, "I bet he gets it now- all the stuff you said before you graduated last year. And he'll have to do the college entrance exams just like we did. But that's in November, and it's only the beginning of June now." As they entered a park and spied some benches, Baekhyun's words began to slow down. "The weather sure has been weird, though... It's had the strangest effect on me." They sat down and now it was his turn to get all quiet.

"What do you mean?" Kai asked, looking at his friend sideways. Baekhyun flicked his eyes in Kai's direction and began to laugh stiffly.

"Aha... haha," he croaked, "I don't know if you'd believe me, man!"

There was a glint in Kai's eye when he said, "Try me." Baekhyun leaned back in the bench and persisted in looking in random directions.

"What would you do if I said something like..." his chest tightened and he wondered if he should be honest, and he managed to squeeze out a hesitant joking voice when he said, "I can control light?"

For a minute, Kai only stared. He began to avert his eyes just as Baekhyun had done. Momentarily he looked down, then he tilted his head at Baekhyun, and then he looked down again.

"I can teleport," he said.

Baekhyun sighed deeply and threw back his head, covering his face with his hands. "See, man? I knew you wouldn't take me seriously!" Kai leaned over and patted Baekhyun's shoulder hectically.

"No, dude, no," _pat, pat, pat_, "I'm serious!" _shake, shake_, "Listen- you can control light, and I can teleport!" Baekhyun peeked out from between his fingers and inquired a weak "Really?" Kai insisted it was true. It took a little while, but soon the nervous mood from earlier was replaced with a bunch of hyper, freaked-out giggling.

"No way!" said one boy. "Yes way," replied the other. They went on like this with different variations for quite a while, delighted to have their new knowledge.

In another, nearby, part of town, a pair of older men stirred and got ready to start their day. Luhan sat up, yawned and squeezed his eyes shut in hopes of clearing his vision after sleeping.

"Ugh," he glowered, scratching his side, "Now I want some taro bubble tea..."

Lay was still lounging beside him with his eyes closed, but he was awake. "I don't have any tapioca pearls," he made known to the other male. Luhan made a noise that sounded like the beginning of "Bah, humbug!" and hopped to his feet.

"I'll go to that little shop I passed on the way here!" he declared. Lay opened one eye to look at him.

"It's been oddly cool out lately," he told Luhan, "and you usually get your bubble tea cold. Are you going to do that this time?" Luhan turned and gaped at his friend.

"Why wouldn't I?" his voice was wispy and challenging. He stared intensely for a few seconds more just because and then ran to grab a jacket and his car keys. "Do you want something?" he asked though he was facing away from Lay and in the doorway already. He already knew the answer through a slight (or really rather large) invasion of personal privacy into his friend's mind, but he was somewhat polite by waiting for Lay to actually say no before he rushed out the door.

The air outside was only slightly humid, and the sun was shining in the sky. It was cool and breezy and Luhan couldn't help but smile as he unlocked and got into his sleek little black car. Although he knew the trip would be a short one, he rolled the windows down for the ride. The smooth roads added to the overall peaceful mood and, as Luhan pulled up to the small cafe, he knew it was going to be a good day. He parked, stepped out of the car, and walked through the glass door with a smile on his face.

Inside, there were clusters of schoolgirls and a few guys, which didn't surprise Luhan. There had been a small number of girls and their friends and probably boyfriends outside as well. It didn't bother him that he was likely among the oldest people there. It wasn't that long ago that he'd been in high school himself, and his warm appearance put people at ease.

He walked up to the counter and ordered his drink freely, earning flustered smiles and giggles from the ladies who worked there. The high school girls also ogled him from all sides, but the closest person to him was another young man who had ordered a bubble tea as well.

"Choco bubble tea?" Luhan inquired, looking over from the corner of his eye. The other light-haired boy looked around before realizing Luhan was talking to him.

"Oh, um, yes!" he stammered, nodding his head as he poked a straw through a hole in the plastic lid of his cup. He felt it proper to ask: "And you?" Luhan was happy to name the root that flavored his drink. "Not bad," the boy said. They each paid for their drinks and ended up exiting the shop at the same time. All the while, Luhan was picking up nervous, self-conscious vibes from the younger guy and thought he might try to ease his mind.

"Are you in high school?" he asked as he took a seat at one of the tables on the porch outside the cafe. Even without reading the kid's mind, he knew the answer was yes. Still, to lessen how weird the guy might think he was, Luhan waited for a voiced affirmative and gestured for him to join him at the table.

"Yes- I am," the blond rushed, trying not to chance disrespectful eye contact with Luhan but replying with vigor to make it clear he was paying attention as he reached for a chair. "And you?" he asked for the second time in minutes.

"I was a university student in China. Here, so far, I've only been working and traveling. It's interesting to see all you high school kids out here," Luhan smiled warmly, tapping his fingers again the lid of his cup. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Oh Sehun," answered the boy, bowing with as little awkwardness as possible in the chair before taking a long sip of his chocolate drink. Luhan went over the characters in Sehun's name in his head and felt his smile grow._ "Serving the world meritoriously, eh?" _he thought with a smirk. The kid's name was cool, but Luhan had people from different countries who thought _his_ name was cute.

"I'm Lu Han," he spoke in a cheerful tone with a bow of his head. Right when he finished speaking, a great gust of air came by and threatened to knock his tea over. He was caught off guard by the strong breeze and by the word that invaded his mind. The word _wind _carried over from Sehun's head to Luhan's and Luhan thought to himself, _"Yes, that's the word for air in motion,"_ suppressing the urge to squint at the boy. But more scrambled thoughts made there way through Luhan's connection to the boy, and-

_"Oh. _That's_ why he was thinking about wind." _This Sehun guy had powers. Hyper tingles rose up in Luhan and he had to force himself not to stare at Sehun with a goofy smile on his face. He wanted to gasp and he wanted to laugh, so he ended up with aching cheeks from smiling too hard. He picked up his cup, using one hand to hold the straw and hide what must have surely been an overbearing expression.

For some reason, the high school boy's eyes followed Luhan's hand, and soon each boy was staring the other right in the face. Luhan's eyebrows scrunched up, partly because of the unnerving feeling of being stared at, and mostly because of the taste of chocolate that had entered his mouth.

Very slowly, the elder of the two set down the other's cup. His eyes fell to the table and his mouth became an O.

"I am... so sorry."

Sehun had his shoulders hitched up and his lips pressed tight like he was either about to laugh or scream. "It's... alright." he said motionlessly, his eyes frozen on the cup now that he'd let them follow it back down to the table. Luhan felt his face getting red and was glad the boy had stopped looking at him. Sighing, he began to strum his fingers against the tabletop.

"Would you like me to buy you a new one?"

"No, no... No thank you."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't mind at all."

"It's ok, really."

"Seriously, I can just walk back into the shop really quickly..."

"It's ok, Luhan!" Sehun addressed him in the most proper way he could, but then he began to laugh. The conversation had sounded incredibly awkward and his smile had been building up from the beginning. "Really." he repeated. Luhan watched for a moment and then let out a breath of laughter.

"You seem like a nice guy," he told the younger man, using one hand to push himself up from the table, and one hand to reach into his back pocket. After fishing through his wallet for a couple of seconds under Sehun's curious gaze, he place a few papers on the table and slid them over to Sehun with both hands. "I spent a little more time here than I meant to, but you're very polite, so it wasn't half bad.

"I hope we meet again, perhaps over bubble tea! And don't feel afraid to talk about the _wind_." Luhan gave a full-face smile and a little bow. "Goodbye," he said, leaving the puzzled boy with enough bills to buy a large cup of tea or two, a little white card, and confusion over why he'd mentioned the wind. Before he had the thought or the nerve to question the college boy, Luhan had walked off to his car. At about the time that Luhan left, Sehun's friends approached.

"Hey, Sehun! Who was that just now?" asked Kai, coming to a stop beside Sehun as the blond tucked the papers into his pocket. Baekhyun went to stand across from them, leaning back a bit as to have a look down the road at the disappearing black vehicle.

"This guy named Luhan," Sehun answered. Kai nodded and moved to pull up a chair before Sehun raised a hand to stop him. "I'm done with my drink, you don't have to sit down." Kai grinned at him.

"Dude, we didn't even know you were up here. We didn't come to sit with you, we came for tea and shaved ice!" Baekhyun smiled cheekily and the boyish look he'd had at Kai's house was back. Sehun let his hand fall and breathed a faint "oh" of understanding as Baekhyun stepped over to the door. "I don't know what you want, Kai, so you'd better come in here, too." Kai whined jokingly and bumbled after his friend.

While his friends ordered their treats, Sehun peeked at the card in his pocket. _"Hm,"_ he thought as he put it back, _"what a weird day." _He observed the pretty color scheme of the small shop, the smiles on his friend's faces through the window, and the light from the sun shining through the clouds._ "What a weird, bright day,"_ he thought.


	5. Four

Thunder boomed so loudly that it shook the entirety of Chanyeol's house. Were his roof to collapse, he'd have no protection from the wood, wires, and rainwater, for he had thrown his bed sheets off of his body early on in the hot night. Now, at 3:56 a.m. according to his bleary-eyed reading of his digital alarm clock, Chanyeol was greeted with the smell of rain and burnt flesh.

Hissing as he sat up and kicked off the blankets that were bunched at his feet, Chanyeol reached up to inspect the harm that had been done to his clothing and his body. It was dark, but the bluish moonlight and occasional flash of lightening helped him to see small tears in his button up shirt. He didn't need light to know that there were scratches on his skin as well.

Slowly, the young man peeled off the long-sleeved cotton shirt which had taken the most damage. Beneath it was a black undershirt that wasn't shy on trying to remain pressed against his body. Apart from being dampened by sweat, the fluffy fabric had gotten stuck where his injuries were trying to heal. The cringe-inducing feeling of disturbing new scabs and the irritation over losing his only matching pajamas were bad feelings to wake up to. As he got up to flick on his light and saw ash underneath his nails and littering his floor, he was rid of all ideas that he might go back to sleep, so he set about cleaning up.

He usually got up at around five to do his morning routine, so this would barely be an hour's difference. The fact that he'd only fallen asleep at one a.m. was just something else he'd have to deal with. He recalled a saying that went something like, "If you sleep four hours a night, you'll get into a university." Chanyeol shrugged his shoulders and thought he might as well clean and study to make use of his extra time and hopefully maintain a strong standing in his school.

Currently a university student, Chanyeol was free of the stress of trying to look good on applications, but he now had to worry about keeping up with his classes, so time chopped off of his sleeping schedule was both a curse and a blessing. He was glad to have extra time to put the finishing touches on some assignments and then make himself presentable, but he worried that he'd be groggy during class. That, and he'd probably be at least a _little_ freaked out over his recurrent burning in the night.

Again, he supposed that was just something he'd have to deal with.

Even with the loud thunder outside and his lack of sleep, Chanyeol managed to get up, change his bed set, fill in a few more pages in a class journal, and even tidy up parts of the house other than his room before he headed to shower. His time in the tub was short, but he did what he needed to do and, after a little more running around the house and getting ready, he was headed out.

Walking along the street in the early morning was somewhat lonely. Seeing as the air was still cool for the time being and all the clouds in the sky were pretty, Chanyeol didn't mind the feeling of emptiness that had been rising inside him. He bounded along with his hands in his pockets, avoiding puddles and trying to keep his mind off of how he was basically a living oven.

Those tasks proved quite difficult on campus. Chanyeol was an expressive person, so much that people had learned to watch him during the more boring moments of class in hopes of seeing an amusing face or movement. On this particular day, their hopes weren't lost on the fidgety boy.

One second he'd be sitting perfectly still with a concentrated look on his face, the next he'd be scooting from side to side in his chair and wincing like he had an itch that he couldn't get to if he wanted to keep a decent reputation. The poor boy's heart was jerking beneath his flesh and bones, and his stomach wasn't doing too well either. He kept asking himself why his sparky soul was so suddenly acting up. Why, on such a random day, and when he had things to do? Seriously, why?

Chanyeol's inner self provided him with no answers and he had to sit through the remainder of his third morning class before he could go try and do something about his predicament. Luckily, the break he had after this particular class was longer than any other, and the majority of the campus happened to be clear of students. Having professors who chose to hold their classes at odd times was a plus at the moment.

So, through the empty courtyard Chanyeol strolled- speed-walked, in fact. The nervous bellyaching he was going through while trying not to spontaneously combust was not unlike something that could be relieved by pepto-bismol. Unfortunately, there was no cure known to him for what was happening with his body, and there would be no coming back from catching fire in a public place.

Too bad Chanyeol scraped his shoe against the ground a little too roughly and flames began to rise up from his socks.

"Ah! No!" he shrieked, stooping and smacking his own leg with all the force and speed he could muster. "You, ah- just stop! Oh my- Hey, oh my god!" Chanyeol didn't seem able to get any clear sentences across with a mouth that felt dry and a leg that was on fire. Wait- make that a leg and the hand that he was using to pat it down, on fire. That, and his other hand, which hadn't even touched the first flame, but was overtaken by a ball of heat nonetheless.

The flames were nothing big and they barely flicked off of his skin, but anyone around would probably notice the orange glow and the blackness spreading from the hem of his pants leg. As it happened, there was a pair of rather intrusive young men behind a bunch of pillars in the courtyard who were measurably shocked by Chanyeol's apparent flammability.

As Chanyeol patted himself down and let out a stream of whispers and shouts, one guy cursed quietly and his friend looked at him. "What the hell?" the first guy asked, his eyes fixed on Chanyeol.

"Really, though," his friend said, not supplying an answer, but recognizing their shared confusion.

"But no, like," the first one continued, "did he have a machine or something? I didn't even see a lighter or anything on his leg, or anything." The other boy ignored that bit of repetition and shook his head.

"Me neither," he said.

"Sh... should we ask him what he did?"

"_No_!"

"Ah... ok, but why not?"

"He just caught on fire with no kind of tool. We're not going up to him, that's dangerous!"

"Yeah, you're right. But what do we do?"

"We follow him."

At just that moment, Chanyeol got his flames under control and plopped down on a bench. The guys behind the pillars shrank further into the darkness and hushed their already quiet words. They silently watched as the other young man pulled out his phone and hurriedly pressed a few buttons.

"Sehun, Sehun!" Chanyeol barked into his phone, neglecting any formal greeting. "I'm freaking out, man!" Sehun scoffed on the other end and asked what Chanyeol was going on about. "Do you remember talking about how weird stuff has been going on? Well, things just got worse! Sehun, I..." After whisper-yelling every word up til now, Chanyeol finally had the sense to quiet down. The pillar men strained to hear.

"Are you alone right now?" Chanyeol asked his friend, "No one else can hear me, right?" Sehun assured him that was so. The students in the courtyard snickered to themselves. "Ok, well I... I can catch on fire."

Sehun's laughing could be heard over the phone. Chanyeol snapped for him to shut up. "Hey," the tall boy said, "I don't mean in general, like I'm just calling you to tell you that I'm not flame retardant!" Sehun kept laughing, and so did the boys behind the columns, though they kept quiet. "Man, I should have just called Baekhyun... But seriously, I'm barely keeping from catching on fire right now and I really don't think I can walk home like this. Do you know anyone who can give me a ride?"

"I don't know," Sehun told him, his voice finally steady and serious, "We've all got to get back to class in a little while, but I'll try to find someone." He bit his lip and moved his phone over to his other hand. "Do you think you'll be able to control it in a car, either? I mean, that's a pretty crazy thing to bring into someone's vehicle..."

Chanyeol had trouble figuring out whether Sehun was taking him seriously, but he couldn't dwell on the doubt. "I don't know, but I guess we could act like it's a prank or something? Try to find someone nice! Please?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll try. Sit tight and I'll call you once I've got someone who's willing to go. If you decide to do something else, tell me, ok?" If Chanyeol wasn't still acting like he had ants in his pants, he might have taken note of how well Sehun was handling the situation, but the young brunette was focused on the burden of getting home without causing serious destruction.

"Ok," he replied, bouncing his knee and glancing around. With that, they hung up, not forgetting polite phrases at the end of the call. Chanyeol stood and made for the front of the school building, two strangers had a little chat before wandering slowly after him, and Sehun stood up with a sigh.

"Wow," the blond breathed, tapping his phone against his chin thoughtfully. He gnawed at his lip and the habit that some girls considered cute was starting to become the source of slight disfigurement. He stopped only when he felt a pang of pain, and he started skimming through the contacts in his phone for a trustworthy person. No one stood out to him and he was quickly filling with dread over not being able to help his friend when an idea popped into his head.

In the small bag he carried at school, there was a bundle of papers and utensils that Sehun considered useful. The day before, he had stuffed a bit of cash and other things in so that he might have a nice lunch. With those things was a little white card that the blond rushed to find. When he got his hands on the paper, there was a light in his eyes that was more than just the reflection of his phone's screen. With one hand holding the card and the other keeping his phone up as he tapped the screen, Sehun took in a deep breath.

"Hello? Is this Luhan? Oh, thank goodness... I know this is out of the blue, but I need a favor..."

Chanyeol was known to be quite an entertaining guy, and all of his friends assured everyone else that he really was fun to talk to. His handsome looks along with his rumored bubbly personality made for some imposing expectations of him, and the nervous wreck in the back of Luhan's car was not living up to what Sehun had told the other blond over the phone.

"So..." Luhan began, flicking his eyes up to have a look at the tall, squirmy boy in the rearview, "Where exactly do you want to go?" He spoke slowly and noted how Chanyeol's face got more and more scrunched up with every look that Luhan took in the mirror.

"Home would be nice," Chanyeol answered, turning the ends of his mouth up in a millisecond-long smile. "I can tell you which way to go once we leave the school zone." Luhan nodded his head and patted his hands on the steering wheel.

"Sure, sure," he breathed before closing his mouth and pursing his lips to one side. As the straight road leading away from Chanyeol's campus came to an end, Luhan began to handle himself about as awkwardly as Chanyeol had been the whole time. "But you know..." the blond said slowly, "I could take you to meet a friend of mine who I think could help with your situation..."

Chanyeol squinted, "Um, no... No, I'm ok."_ 'And I wasn't aware you knew anything about my '_situation_','_ he thought to himself as he snorted and looked out the window. The trees and buildings were passing by noticeably slower and he unconsciously began to rub his knees in a bout of nervousness.

"No, no, really," Luhan insisted, biting his bottom lip, strumming his fingers on the steering wheel and trying to come up with the best words to keep the kid calm and informed. When he couldn't think of a perfect way to say what he wanted to say, Luhan turned the wheel and pulled to a stop on the side of the road, deciding to come right out with it. As he loosened his seat belt and turned around, he saw Chanyeol hitch back his shoulders and sink into the seat of the car, undoubtedly about to freak out.

"Listen," Luhan spoke firmly, "I know you have fire powers."

In a second, Chanyeol left his squished imprint on the seat and was leaning forward with his jaw dropped.

"What! Did Sehun seriously tell you that?" Then he realized what an odd response that was to Luhan's claim and he leaned back again, tossing his head and adding, "Because, like, that's so not true." The blond in the front couldn't help but laugh at that reaction.

"I have a power, too," he said, "and I was able to figure out you control fire all on my own. Sehun doesn't even know I have a power, so he avoided telling me about yours. Do any of your other friends have them?" Luhan realized he was being quite forward, but he was both excited to find more people like him and interested in helping Chanyeol get used to the supernatural. Chanyeol was antsy as ever in the back.

"No... At least I don't think so," the brunette said, his facial expressions making his confusion clear. It seemed like his eyes were out of control as they went back and forth from being thoughtful slits and widening with worry beneath his tightly scrunched eyebrows. He had heard of people feeling butterflies in their stomachs, and he had gone through the same thing before, but at the moment it seemed like the heart in his chest had become a panicked winged creature instead.

"That's alright." Luhan's voice brought Chanyeol's focus back to him. The older boy kept his eyes on the road as he nonchalantly said, "But I wouldn't be surprised if more of you had them. I mean, in just this area there are four of us so far, but my friend and I don't really associate with too many other people, so it would make more sense if you knew more special kids than just you and Sehun." As Luhan prattled on, Chanyeol's jaw went slack.

"Is this a dream?" the college boy suddenly questioned, flopping back against the seat. Luhan set his momentarily thin-eyed, judgmental gaze on the boy and was silent long enough for his disbelief in Chanyeol's question to settle in.

"No," the blond huffed. Chanyeol said "oh" and went quiet for a few moments himself before an upheaval of something inside him sent him thrashing forward. He flew forward and slapped one hand against the drivers seat, the other squished beside his once again hanging jaw.

"_Sehun has powers, too?!_" he screeched, his eyes and mouth wide O's. In an uncontrollable response to Chanyeol's shock and loud question, Luhan's grip tightened on the steering wheel. _'I can read minds and I didn't think to check whether this kid knew about the other kid's abilty?_' Luhan snapped in his head. Then the car lurched to a stop and, in a flurry of motion, the blond was out of the car.

"Hahaha!" he forced a laugh as he started up the stairs outside of Lay's home, "We're here, let's go meet my friend!" Chanyeol took a second to recover from seeing Luhan speed away like that before unbuckling his seatbelt and stepping out of the car as well. They made their way up the stairwell, Luhan alternating between taking quick steps and slow looks back at the self-conscious Chanyeol. When they reached the door, Luhan unlocked it and pranced in and Chanyeol wandered in like a lost puppy soon after.

"Oh, Luhan-" Lay started up, turning away from the tea he was stirring to look over his shoulder and welcome his friend home. He stopped moving and talking when his eyes found someone he didn't know.

Having noticed Lay's confusion over the stranger, Luhan closed the front door with one hand and used the other to gesture from one man to the next. "Lay, this is Chanyeol. Chanyeol, this is Lay. Lay's my friend with powers. Chanyeol is a kid with powers who I just met. Happy day."

"Oh." was all Lay said as he wrapped his fingers tighter around the cup in his hands.

"Yeah." Chanyeol cleared his throat, gazing off to the side.

Luhan was the only one who appeared content with the current state of affairs.


	6. Five

Luhan went and got comfortable on his own, leaving the pair of quiet men to introduce themselves properly. They gave their names with a respective "like he said" and tried to bow as manners dictated, but Chanyeol ended up bumping a lamp because he didn't know where he ought to stand, and Lay didn't try very hard not to spill the tea in his hands as he leaned forward. In the end, Lay and Chanyeol were standing on opposite sides of the main room and Luhan was seated on the couch a bit away from them.

"Please, sit," the eldest encouraged the two, and they both jumped into action, going to and fro from sofa to recliner to wooden chair and basically square-dancing until they could find comfortable seats across from Luhan but not directly next to each other. When the uneasiness in the air leveled down and Lay offered Chanyeol a cup of tea with a curious "Hmm?" and Chanyeol refused with a shake of his head and an "Mm-mm," Luhan got to talking.

"I know this is an odd series of events, but I'm really glad we could gather like this, even if it's just the three of us at the moment." Luhan smiled brightly at the two of them before turning to Chanyeol, "You've been very easy-going so far, but I know it is extremely nerve wracking when you first discover your powers," at that, Chanyeol perked up, "and I find it kind of funny that your friend called me to come help you even when none of us knew about each other's abilities," Luhan chuckled and Chanyeol looked like he wanted to say something, yet Luhan had already turned his gaze away from him when he said, "But it was convenient and I'm lucky to have the chance to hear different points of view on the subject."

Lay nodded in agreement and Chanyeol hastened to do the same, but his face showed discontentment.

"Excuse me, but I have a few things to say... and, uh, ask," the young one spoke up, gaining the sincere interest of his elders. He looked hesitant to say, "It's just that I didn't only learn about my power over fire just now, I've actually known about it for a while now. Well, I don't even know if I should call in 'control' because the flames come out pretty randomly and I can't really figure out how to make them stop easily, but they have been showing up for quite some time..."

As he finished his little story, Chanyeol began to wring his hands. He didn't have much to say about himself, so he moved on to something, or someone, that was bothering him more at the moment. "What was that you said about Sehun, Luhan? Does... does he have a power, too?" The smile on Luhan's face shrunk and he let his eyes fall.

"Hmmm," he said, looking down and rubbing the back of his head, "_Yeah_... Yeah, he does." Chanyeol's face quickly formed a look of surprise, and then it fell to a somewhat pained expression.

"Man..." he said quietly, "He didn't even tell me... Not on the phone or anything. It's really weird that he'd let you know about his powers even when he didn't know about yours. I mean, I've never even heard your name from him until today." Chanyeol was looking down, but it was clear he was aiming his words at Luhan. Chanyeol fiddled with his thumbs, Lay looked around the room in an effort not to stare anyone down, and Luhan laughed awkwardly.

"Oh, no, no, no," Luhan rushed to explain, "he didn't tell me! Like I said, I can figure that kind of thing out without any hints! I'm kind of on the lookout for others like us, so I picked up on Sehun pretty quickly when we met. And we just met, too, the same as me and you- nothing special there." Lay felt himself raise an eyebrow at that, but it seemed to put Chanyeol at ease at least a little, so they shifted topics once again.

"Ok," Chanyeol said, looking up again, "I can believe that. But about those points of view you were talking about... Wouldn't it be better to have more people here to talk?" Lay was still silently sipping on his tea and responding only with his intrigued facial expressions, turning his wide eyes toward Luhan and awaiting his response.

"Yes," Luhan nodded, "That would be nice." He was going to leave it at that if Chanyeol hadn't raised his eyebrows like he was hoping for something more. Watching for cues and agreement from the young man, Luhan asked, "Are you saying you'd rather wait for Sehun to be here before we talk?" As soon as Luhan got the last word out, Chanyeol was nodding his head yes. Luhan laughed a bit at that reaction and stood up.

"Ok," he said, stepping over to the flat screen nearby, "I guess we'd better find some entertainment, then." Lay stood up as well and made sure to tell Chanyeol that there was more tea if he wanted any, but the younger boy insisted he was fine without food or drink.

And so, as the pair of mind-bending men tried graceslessy to be nice hosts, the college boy scooted as far to one side of the sofa as he could get, and they all began the waiting game.

Chanyeol was unsure whether it was a blessing or a shame that Lay did not have a clock on any of the walls of his condo. When the college boy got bored of what was on T.V. or accidentally met eyes with one of the two men in the room with him, he had no conveniently placed clock to avert his gaze to. Plus, if he felt like checking the time, glancing down at his phone felt more rude than it would have felt to look at a time-keeping piece of furniture. Those things made Chanyeol wish a wall was adorned with a time piece, but at the same time he was sure that, if there had been a clock, the humbled boys in the living room would heard many a tick and equally many a tock. The tall boy didn't want to find out if that noise would make the room even more tense, so he settled on just dealing with the occasional aimless glance at the blank walls.

But, man, was that boring.

"Ahaha," Chanyeol broke the wordless streak with a laugh and Lay and Luhan's eyes flicked from the T.V. to him. "This is kind of weird," he said, "Sehun's school let out before now, and he never takes this long to get places." Lay looked down and pursed his lips, silently pondering the teen's tardiness. Luhan looked the same way, just with his mouth hanging open a little, and just said "huh."

"It has been a while... Have you checked your messages? Or messaged him recently?" Lay inquired. Chanyeol straightened up and blinked his eyes.

"Huh? Oh, no, we haven't been talking." When Chanyel finished that sentence, Lay looked to Luhan instead.

"So did he text _you_, Luhan?" Luhan recoiled and refused to look at his friend.

"No..."

The room went silent for the millionth time.

"Did either of you even ask him to come here?" Lay asked. Luhan hissed between his teeth and Chanyeol pressed his lips together before they both stammered things like "Uh, no," "I didn't think to," and "Oh, crap."

"I just assumed he'd come," Chanyeol explained hurriedly, "I thought that was the plan from when Luhan picked me up."

Luhan looked back and forth between the pair across from him and nodded his head, saying, "Me too! That, or I thought Chanyeol would have told Sehun that we were expecting him."

Lay nodded his head along with him, closing his eyes and smiling darkly. "Alright," he said, "Well maybe one of you should actually hit him up." Luhan and Chanyeol erupted in sounds of agreement and dug in their pockets for their phones, Chanyeol getting his out first. He found the contact and tapped it once before swinging the phone up to his ear.

As he scooted back on a stack of pillows on his bed, Sehun paused skimming instagram to answer the call from his fiery friend. "Hello?" he greeted, stuffing a chip in his mouth at a time that wasn't rude in the least, "Yeah, yeah, I'm free. Is everything ok?" He pushed the chip bag to the side of his bed and swung his legs over the edge, listening to his friend insist that everything was fine. "Ok... Just tell me where it is and I'll find a ride." He could hear his friend's deep voice and Luhan's smooth one a ways away from the phone before Chanyeol's voice got louder so Sehun could write down the exact address. Once he had it down, he told his friend he'd be there in a bit, they said goodbye, and the quietness in Sehun's room returned.

As he he flicked through the names in his phone, he wondered whether everything really was ok. '_Well, whether it is or it isn't_,' he thought, '_it would be better for me to be there with him._' For the second time today, he was in need of a ride, and instead of a practical stranger this time, he chose someone much more familiar.

On the counter of a bathroom sink, an expensive cell phone buzzed to life with the sound of a pop song and someone in the steaming shower across the room tugged the curtain open and ran a single meter like his life depended on it.

"Hello?" Kai answered the call, leaning up against the sink and trying not to sound excited to hear from his ever-so-distant pal.

"Ah, you picked up fast. Hey, man, I need a ride."

"Dude, you know my car's messed up right now. You were here the other day!"

"Oh, yeah, that's right... But I still need someone to pick me up."

"No problem, I'll just ask Baekhyun."

"Ah, that's a good idea! You should tell him that Chanyeol's there."

Kai took a moment to chuckle at that and said, "Sure. Just give me a sec," before exiting the call to go find "Bacon" in his phone. As he did that, he reached for the towel hanging on the shower curtain and noticed that the shower head was spraying like there was no tomorrow. "Oh, crap!" the boy croaked as he reached with one hand to turn off the water, holding his phone and his towel with his other hand.

"Hello?" a muffled voice came out from the towel bunched in the tan boy's fist. Basically slapping himself in the face with the towel, Kai was quick to hold up the phone and get to the point. "Hey! Mind coming by for me and Sehun so we can head out to meet Chanyeol somwhere?"

Baekhyun seemed to take a moment to take in the names and meaning in Kai's words before replying with, "Uhh, sure, why not." Kai clenched his fist in a soundless celebration before thanking his older friend and pulling the call with Sehun back up.

"He said yes!" the brunette told the blond.

"Cool, cool, that's great," Sehun breathed before making a sound closer to a laugh than Kai had heard from him in weeks. As he pressed the phone to one side of his face and dried his hair on the other side, Kai felt his face relax and form a smile. "Well, alright, I have the address so don't worry about that. See you soon." Kai hummed in response, gave his goodbye, and hung up.

As he set down his phone and set to drying off and getting dressed, he assured himself the only reason he was feeling warm was because the bathroom was still kind of steamy.

"Are you sure this is the right way?"

"Don't ask me, I only know where we're supposed to end up."

"Don't ask me either, but isn't that that little cafe we went to yesterday?"

"Oh, yeah," Sehun said, leaning forward between the two front seats and pointing even though he'd just said not to ask him where to go. "I remember he drove that way from the cafe."

"Who did? Chanyeol?" Baekhyun asked, taking the turn with surprisingly little hesitation. Sehun shook his head even though no one was looking at him.

"No," he answered, "Luhan." Baekhyun made a face, his eyes thinning and his lips coming out like a beak.

"Ok, well... Who's that?"

"The guy whose house we're going to."

Kai turned to squint at Sehun as the younger boy sat back and Baekhyun kept staring at him in the rearview mirror.

"Alrighty then," he said, continuing down the long, smooth road away from the rest of the city. Sehun picked up his phone and said he'd call to say they'd be there soon, and apart from that they rode in silence.

As they pulled up on the cobbled driveway to the lone two-story condo and had a look at the large windows, the colorful plants on the light wood balcony, and the tall, budding trees behind the building, Baekhyun whistled. "Nice place," he said as he stepped out of the car. The others only nodded in agreement, gazing around as Sehun led them up the stairs.

Knocking on the door a couple times, the blond called, "Hey, it's me, Sehun," and he didn't get much further than that before the door was open and Luhan was standing right in front of him.

"Hi! Come in," the other blond welcomed him, his eyes alight with cheer. He stepped aside and bowed to Sehun and Baekhyun as they stepped in and took off their shoes, but he froze when Kai came through the doorway. Blinking his eyes a few times over in a millisecond, Luhan clicked his teeth and said, "Well _hello_ there." Kai, although he had been relaxed and even perky on the way up, tensed and avoided the older man's gaze.

"Hi," was his short response as he pointedly turned away and bent to remove his shoes and catch up to the boys who had already made their way to the living room. Luhan slowly set into motion after him and watched as the boys introduced themselves and filled up his sofa and Kai took the chair he had previously been sitting in. Lay noticed and looked up at his friend as he scooted to make room for the younger men, but Luhan didn't mention it as he took a different seat.

"So..." Luhan's voice rose as he sank into the cushion of his new seating choice, "it must have come as a surprise to you two that Sehun and Chanyeol have powers." He wasn't looking at them as he spoke, but once an unforseen feeling of shock slammed into him from the minds of the newcomers, Luhan had to look up. Kai and Baekhyun gaping at their friends, sitting on the edges of their seats while Chanyeol stared at the floor with wide eyes and Sehun's eyes bore a hole into Luhan's was_ not_ what Luhan expected to see. As it dawned on him that he had yet again revealed these kid's secrets by accident that day, his hands floated up very slowly til they were covering his mouth and nose.

"Ah," he spoke from behind his curled fingers, "I can see that it did." That was all he got out before the youngest four went into hysterics. Phrases like "What?!" "No way!" "For real?" and "Me too!" made up the majority of their conversation, if it could be called that, and they all questioned why each of them hadn't been told and which things they had the ability to do, and said they didn't think Luhan and Lay would mind_ too_ much if the couch got charred or a tornado started up in the living room.

As they chattered on and on and the prospect of Lay's home being destroyed grew more likely, he and Luhan shared a glance and, with a wave of his hand, Lay freed the boy's minds of surprise and anxiety and got them to hush down. Luhan caught the strongest thoughts in their heads, such as '_So _that's _why he's been so distant lately,_' and '_They got cool powers and all I got is light._' When everything finally and totally settled, the oldest of them all let his hands fall away from his face and revealed his bright smile.

"I know that was a really bad way to find that out, but this is amazing!" he could barely get the words out, he was smiling so hard. "There are _six_ of us now, six different people with different abilities, all together!" Chanyeol began to bounce his leg on his side of the couch.

"This is crazy..." he said, his deep voice even lower than usual.

"This is something to be _celebrated_," Luhan told him. Lay sat back and gave a nod of his head, smiling as well, but not as big as Luhan. The tight-knit four turned to looked at each other before nodding as well. "Yeah," they said, "Sure!" and one of them finished with, "This is awesome!" Luhan hopped up out of his chair and Lay chuckled at the excitement that was refilling the room. "Get comfortable, relax," Luhan insisted, grabbing and shaking Chanyeol's hand with both of his. He did the same to the other three boys before heading to the kitchen.

"And tell me about yourselves!" he called over his shoulder as he searched for their best soju and juices. All the younger men launched into conversation, each one telling or listening to a story, and Luhan made a show of using his telekinesis to set tall glasses and shot glasses down on the coffee table between them all, much to their viewing pleasure. As each of them took hold of a cup, Luhan and Lay stood to pour them whatever they wanted, but as Luhan tilted the soju bottle over the glass in Chanyeol's hands, he paused and looked up at him.

"You guys are all over nineteen, right?" Chanyeol and Baekhyun said yes, and Sehun and Kai shared a look that went unnoticed by everyone else before saying yes as well. Luhan laughed and got to pouring, mumbling, "A party with six superhumans and hard liquor... This is going to be interesting."

Indeed, it was.


	7. Six

Under the lamp-shaded fluorescent lights that hadn't needed to be changed since the first day at the dorm, Suho felt a cold sweat coming on. He sat cross-legged on top of the thin blankets on his mattress, thumbing the edge of one of the silkier layers. Hands at work fraying the end of what was fortunately not campus property, the boy stared at the door from behind his black bangs which were usually combed up out of his face, but after his shower earlier he had jumped right into fixing up his room and hadn't worried about his own appearance. Now, he waited eagerly for the arrival of four more helping hands and critical eyes.

A knock on the door put Suho's wait to an end and his body into motion. Right after the sound had been made to alert the lone boy of other people's presence, he was there in front of them with no door to block the view. The two guys outside the room stood frozen, Tao's eyes as wide as they could go, Kris' fist hanging in the air moments after knocking.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Suho coughed, "Come in!" He scrambled to get out of their way and the tall boys got to the center of the room in just a few steps.

"It's fine," Kris spoke smoothly, as usual, tucking his hands in his pockets and peering around the room, "But why did you call us up here so late on a Monday night?" Tao raised his eyebrows, visibly awaiting an answer to Kris' query. Suho clasped his hands together as he stared up at them with equally expectant eyes, and his lips poked out in the way that they always did when he had to talk in a weird situation.

"I just wanted to know... Does it look nice?" His big eyes shined and Tao wasn't sure whether the fluttery feeling in his stomach was because he thought it was cute or he was grossed out. Either way, he drew back and kept looking down at Suho as if the boy was younger than him. The brunette paid the judging look no mind as he took his turn waiting for an answer.

"You mean your room?" Kris asked. Suho blinked at him and Kris took that as a yes. Sighing, the long-limbed man turned this way and that, scrutinizing each part of the dorm room. Once he had a look over Suho's shoulder, he titled his chin back a bit and said, "Your bed is a mess." He wasn't expecting Suho's face to break into a smile at that, but he watched as it happened.

"That's fine, I just did that when I hopped off of it to answer the door. I make the bed all the time, anyway, so that's not something I need to worry about before the new guy comes around," the brunette reasoned, straightening his back and letting his hands fall to his sides. Then he walked away and plopped right back down on the bed. Tao made a face at him. "What?" Suho asked. "Sit down or something, jeez. You've been here before." Tao huffed and puffed about it but took a seat in a chair anyway.

"I guess I'll go check the kitchen for any disorder," Kris said. The others knew that meant he was going to check for anything delicious and "help his pal Suho get rid of it."

"I'm sure you will," Tao mumbled once the other Chinese boy had turned away. Kris promptly turned back around and smacked him upside the head. That was all it took to put a tight lipped smile on the other boy's face and make him keep his mouth closed before Kris went on his way. However kind-hearted Suho was, the young man didn't even try not to laugh.

At that moment, he decided to speak up over the noise of Kris messing around in the kitchen. "I'm glad we're friends," Suho said. Tao just rolled his eyes.

In a pretty little building not too far off, six young men were glad to be friends as well. Getting drunk together and telling stories did wonders (and horrors) for new relationships, but the goal they all had to learn about one another had definitely been met. It didn't matter that they had learned through occasionally invasive and embarrassing ways; everything was fair play, and everything they played appeared fun through beer goggles.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun were having a ball seeing who could shine the brightest, and Sehun and Lay were happy to be judges as well as keep an eye on the house. Sometime throughout the series of silly yet dangerous games, Kai and Luhan had up and vanished. Apart from freaking out about Kai's "mad teleportation skills," the other four put no thought into where the pair had gone or what they were doing. Chanyeol was doing too good a job of lighting himself on fire for them to worry about anything else.

That was all fine, because Luhan and Kai had a great deal to talk about outside on their own. So far, as they both giggled and stumbled around and used trees to hold themselves up, they weren't getting many words out. They had a lot on their minds and were building up to mentioning it, but where their thoughts were headed still didn't include much talking.

"Look at you!" Luhan finally spouted a full sentence, his words riddled with laughter as he pointed at the slouching Kai. The dark-skinned boy glowered at him and shrugged against the tree trunk that was helping him stand, slurring the question, "What?"

Luhan flitted over and clapped his hand against the younger man's chest, grinning as he said, "You're like a_ baby_!"

"Well, duh," Kai said, swatting his pretty little hand away. "I'm younger than you." Luhan breathed in and out loudly as he stared at the boy and nodded his head.

"Yeah," the blond breathed, shaking a finger in Kai's direction, "Yeah, you are, aren't you!" The fingers on his hand uncurled for the few seconds it took to grab hold of the collar of Kai's shirt, and Luhan leaned in and squinted. "How old _are_ you, exactly?" he questioned in a hiss.

"First year in college," Kai answered before sticking his tongue out and cocking his head to the side, not bothering to swat Luhan's hand away this time.

"Did you start college right after high school?" Luhan asked, his eyes growing impossibly thin.

"Yeah," Kai responded without missing a beat, sticking his tongue out further.

"Are you telling me," Luhan whispered as he began to pull Kai forward, "that you," their faces were uncomfortably close now and Kai ultimately put his tongue back in his mouth, "were a high school student last year?!" Luhan shrieked and began to shake Kai back and forth and Kai still let his head loll to the side.

After a few seconds of silent shaking, Kai finally turned to look at the older guy, lifting a hand in what first looked like an attempt to loosen Luhan's grip on his shirt. But Kai didn't reach for Luhan's hand. Instead, he placed his palm smack-dab in the middle of the older man's face.

"Yep," was his answer to the question of his age before he shoved Luhan backwards by his head.

Luckily for the brunette, the blond was not actually a violent drunk. While some other men would have beaten the bold college first-year to a pulp for touching them like that, Luhan barely even noticed he had just been hit by his junior. There was something else on his mind, and he made that evident in a moment's time.

"A high school kid stole my girlfriend!" his gasp earned a pat on the back from Kai.

"Man, I didn't even like her. She tried to go out with me for a while, though! It didn't work, but that happens a lot... It's cause I'm sexy," Kai gurgled, wrapping an arm around the thin man's shoulders. Luhan swiftly pulled away and turned to find out the validity of that statement.

"I don't see it," he disagreed bluntly.

"What do you mean? Are you even looking at me? You've got to be kidding." Luhan sniffed cockily and went to turn away, but Kai smacked his lips and grabbed Luhan's face to keep him from looking anywhere else. "Ah, ah, ah," he warned. The older man pouted like a child and said that he was cuter than Kai. Kai was determined to prove otherwise.

"Let me tempt you, then," said the younger of the two to the older, looking him in the eye. Luhan shook his head free but staid directly in front of Kai to see what the kid had to show him. He crossed his arms and put on his best critic face and told the boy to go ahead. In a split second, Kai was rid of drunken droopiness and was acting like a model.

Slowly looking him up and down, Kai took Luhan's hand and pulled him to a place under the trees where the moonlight could illuminate his tan skin. He gazed up from under his long eyelashes, and bit his bottom lip in a way that told Luhan he had done this before. That, and so did the scrambled thoughts he was receiving, such as, "_Hell yeah! You like that, don't you? Everyone always loves that._" Luhan was torn between laughing at Kai's thoughts and silently watching in approval of his unexpected skill at being seductive, so he bit his lip in a way that he hoped didn't look like he was making fun of Kai. The younger man noticed, if his thought of, "_Aw, yeah! Bet you want to kiss me, don't you?_" was any indication.

Making up his mind to laugh anyway, Luhan cupped Kai's face with both hands, much to the young drunk's surprise. Basically thinking "_Why not?_" and being the mischievous person he was, Luhan gently pressed his lips to Kai's. Luhan couldn't see as the boy's eyes slowly closed, but he felt the as he relaxed and returned the kiss. As they tilted their heads and parted their lips, they were introduced to the faint tastes of the drinks they had each had earlier. Luhan noticed and leaned away with a smirk before licking his lips. Kai lingered a bit before straightening up himself.

"Well," Luhan chirped, patting the boy's cheek before letting his arms fall away, "I guess you showed me!"

He didn't have to look into his mind to know that Kai was seeing stars.

With Luhan leading, they ran back upstairs and into the welcoming arms of their boozed up buddies. Sehun questioned how long Kai had been outside and how long they had all been hanging out. Rather than replying, everyone fell silent.

Just like that, what had started as a night of light-hearted fun seemed to be coming to a bad end as the four young men realized just how much time they had wasted _getting_ wasted at their new friends' house. It had been a long time since those two new friends had seen anyone freak out like the drunk kids in their condo were at the time.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, just calm down!" Lay's voice rose above the wailing of the handful of younger men who were throwing themselves about in a panic in his home.

"But, I mean like, how? Why am I even here, oh my god I need to leave-" Sehun continued rambling without a care, squinting and shaking his head, gesturing sporadically in confusion and worry. He pitter-pattered over to the door, picked up his shoes and then put them back down.

His shoulders sank and Lay could see his mouth moving, but he heard nothing seeing as the young boy's friends were all preoccupied with their own wellbeing and no one else's. Lay inched closer and managed to catch what sounded like, "They're going to smell this on me!"

In what was an equally amusing and freaky coincidence, both Sehun and Kai covered their faces and let out some of the loudest, most whale-like sighs Lay had ever heard. Needing just a moment to recover from flinching away from Kai's sudden howl, the second oldest of everyone there sat next to the youngest.

"Sh, shh," Lay hushed the boy, gently uncurling Sehun's fingers from the heel tabs of his tennis shoes. Giving Sehun's hand a reassuring pat and a small dose of his mind-healing aura, he said, "You can just stay here."

Behind them, Luhan could be heard saying something similar to the three remaining visitors.

"Don't worry," the blond enunciated surprisingly clearly for his level of intoxication, "We can take you wherever you need to go in the morning."

"But we go to three different schools," Chanyeol spoke for the silent, fidgety Baekhyun and Kai, who were frozen in the same position that they had been in since Kai had groaned earlier. Kai was pressing his fingers against his temples while Baekhyun had his arms crossed and was looking off to the side. Luhan looked back and forth between the three of them as Chanyeol sputtered, "A-a-and, Kai and I have stuff to do afterwards! Places to go!"

Baekhyun belatedly joined the conversation, raising his eyebrows and reminding Chanyeol, "It's not like we're going to stay here the whole day tomorrow."

Luhan raised his shoulders up slightly. "Well... you could if you wanted to."

The blond had stopped stepping into the mind's of his company long ago, so there was no doubt of the source when he picked up the thought of, "_Well this isn't your house to be hoarding people at._"

He shot his friend a look and hoped his inner voice was sassy when he thought, "_You just said they could stay the night, so what's a few more hours?_" Lay did not share his ability to read minds, so the exact meaning of Luhan's glare was lost, but the brunette's subsequent nod showed that he managed to get the picture anyhow.

"Like I said," the fair-haired man insisted in a soft voice, "we can take you anywhere you need to be. We've got free time and three cars, plus there's space for you all to sleep, and a shower and a washing machine that you can use before you head home."

With the relieved looks the others were beginning to give each other, Luhan felt that he got his point across, but it didn't hurt to add, "Do you really want to go back to wherever you live hung over, anyway?" A cringe copied and pasted itself onto each of the college boy's faces before they officially dropped the idea of going back to each of their homes. Luhan smiled at them and went over to Lay, telling them that they'd be right back with blankets and whatnot.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol unsurprisingly sat right up next to each other on the couch, squished together on one side while Kai and Sehun sat comfortably beside each other near the other armrest.

Chanyeol tossed his head back and sighed, saying, "Man, I'm glad I'll be moving in with other students soon. I hope D.O. introduces me to people tomorrow."

"Me, too, man," Kai said, leaning over so he and Chanyeol could see each other. He sighed as well. "You're lucky you have someone to show you around in your area. I don't really know anyone at my school except for this guy," he jabbed his thumb in Baekhyun's direction.

"Nice, guys, rub it in my face that I'll still be living with my family," Baekhyun grumbled sarcastically.

"You don't have to be," his friends all bombarded him with reassuring pats on the shoulder as Kai told him, "There's plenty of space in the dorms, you just better decide before Friday because people will be moving around once Summer break starts." Baekhyun had closed his eyes and had been shaking his head in stubborn refusal, but as Kai gave his knee a supportive squeeze he opened one eye and tilted his chin up.

"You had nothing to do with it, but maybe I will." Baekhyun's words sent the other three into a fit of laughter and they resumed patting his back and shaking and cheering for him enough that he just had to laugh too. At that moment, with arms overflowing with soft bed sets, Luhan and Lay wandered back into the main room and noted that the playful air meant they had done a good job calming everyone down earlier.

But as the linens the pair carried made their way into the reach of the four drunk students, all it took was one phrase to throw the house into havok again. Grabbing a cushion from the now-alert Luhan's hands, Chanyeol shouted the deadly words:

"Pillow fight!"


	8. Seven

In the late hours of the night before they would have to help a new neighbor settle in, two roommates were wide awake. They were both deathly tired and strongly wanted to rest, but as one boy quivered beneath his bed sheets, the other was too worried to sleep.

"Kyungsoo," the faint sound of Xiumin's voice barely registered in Kyungsoo's ears as the rumbling of the earth mingled with his own shaky breaths.

"Ah... yeah?" Kyungsoo steadied his voice without realizing that the force in his words sounded rude. Xiumin wasn't deterred by the rough sound- if anything, he was drawn by it. He sat up and focused in on the trembling mass on the other side of the dark room.

"Are you alright?" he asked, reaching for the lamp beside his bed. Kyungsoo managed a broken hum in response and he couldn't see nor hear as his roommate turned on the small light and got out of bed.

Kyungsoo only realized Xiumin had come over to him when he felt his sweat-dampened blanket be pulled over his head. The lamp light, though rather dim and yellow, stung even through Kyungsoo's tightly closed eyes, and the wave of cool air that came over him brought along with it a wave of nausea. Black hair matted down with sweat that made the open air feel even colder, Kyungsoo unconsciously pushed himself into the older man's arms. Xiumin felt his heart sink as he wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulder's and in attempt to soothe him through the brunt of his shivering.

Placing one hand on Kyungsoo's forehead, Xiumin gasped. "You're burning up!" he said before he realized that was probably not the most reassuring thing to tell someone in that state. He quickly moved on from saying that, loosening his hold on the boy and gently pushing him so that he could see his face. "Do you know what's wrong?" he asked, looking into the other's pained eyes.

The brunette did not react well to that question. His face contorted even worse and he collapsed against Xiumin, placing his head on Xiumin's shoulder as his own shoulders heaved. The pain in his bones seeped further into his head and his chest and he registered them as aches brought on by his earth-related sickness and misery and loneliness over not being able to reveal said sickness.

"Yes," he panted, his breath almost as hot as his skin against Xiumin's unclothed chest. He weakly curled his fingers on the other's back as his shivers began to dwindle. "Yes," he repeated, "but I can't tell you." After that, there was a moment of silence wherein one boy was angry to be crippled with a secret power that seemed to be weakening him, and the other boy mused over what sort of wild ailment it was that he could possibly be catching at the moment.

Though Kyungsoo's breaths were growing smoother, it felt like his temperature was rising. Xiumin observed how the boy was almost entirely dead weight on him. '_Man, I really don't want to catch what he has.' _Xiumin's actions contradicted his thoughts as he climbed fully onto the bed and rearranged his and his roommates' bodies. Supporting Kyungsoo with his hands as he crawled around the boy, Xiumin took his place near the wall behind Kyungsoo.

"Ok," he said softly, lying his hands on the boy's fallen shoulders. "You don't have to tell me. Just try to relax," his voice was slightly strained as he focused on something that Kyungsoo was unaware of. He was hardly able to find it odd when Xiumin touched something cold to the back of his neck and started to massage his shoulders without ever having gone to grab ice or anything like it. Primarily flinching away from the cold and later leaning into it, the anger and loneliness in him dulled along with the physical pain from earlier.

The tension at Xiumin's fingertips slowly faded and Kyungsoo's eyes closed. When Kyungsoo became unable to hold himself up, Xiumin helped him lie down, but not before he pushed the messed up blanket off of the bed. "Shh," the elder hushed the younger in a effort to keep him calm and remind him with sound that someone was there for him.

After rushing as quietly as possible to his side of the room to fetch a fresh blanket, Xiumin sat back on the side of Kyungsoo's bed and covered him up. For the rest of the night, there he sat, thinking about how he hadn't seen his roommate anything like this in the months that they had known each other. Whatever Kyungsoo had caught had to be serious for him to have behaved like he did, and Xiumin's previously free spirit was dampened with the strongest worry he had ever felt for the boy beside him.

As a low rumble in the building stopped and caught Xiumin's attention, he wondered what had been causing the sound in the first place. With the bizarre weather as of late, a sick roommate, and mysterious vibrations that could be felt throughout the entire room, it occurred to Xiumin that what was supposed to be a pleasant, restful night before an easy day would be just the opposite.

Much to his dismay, the better part of Xiumin's morning was spent tending to Kyungsoo, just as his night had been. Burdened equally by the desire to sleep in, the conflicting feeling of shame for daring to give less than his all in class, and a personal obligation to help the roommate with whom he wasn't even good friends, Xiumin was in and out of bed and various classrooms but not entirely "all there."

Despite the little differences in their schedules, Xiumin took it upon himself to escort the exhausted Kyungsoo to each of his classes and, if needed, the infirmary. Some of his and Kyungsoo's classes were at the same time, but each boy had at least one class that started in the middle of the other boy's, so Xiumin was half glad and half resentful that students were allowed to leave the room without asking permission. Not the sort of person to back out of a previous engagement, the paling Korean boy continued to check up on his extra sickly-looking schoolmate in spite of the increasing heaviness of his eyelids.

It was at the concurrent end of their last classes that Xiumin experienced the first bit of leisure that he had in over twelve hours. Hoisting his notebooks off of his desk, it took all of his remaining energy to trudge to Kyungsoo's classroom door and make the trip back to the dorms.

The manner in which Kyungsoo downcast his gaze immediately upon seeing Xiumin had the somewhat healthier of the two wondering if the other was uncomfortable around him. Disregarding how Kyungsoo was set against looking at him, he silently moved to the side of his junior and nestled right in under his arm. The dreariness hanging in the air was enough to get him a little irritated about how everyone younger than him seemed to be taller. At the same time, it kept him from dwelling on it, and his turbulent brain returned to the task at hand.

They started on their brief journey and Kyungsoo was already basically drooped across Xiumin's shoulders when he said, "You really don't have to do this, you know..." Through Xiumin's attempts to subdue the laugh that was coming on, he sniggled like a chipmunk. If the other students hadn't already wandered off, someone might have made a joke about him looking like one too. Most people would have felt like his laugh was sarcastic as well, which wasn't the case, but Kyungsoo didn't know him well and any chance that he would look up at his roommate vanished once he heard that sound.

"I want to do this," Xiumin replied. Kyungsoo didn't detect the bounce that showed up in Xiumin's step after that. Xiumin wasn't sure whether the kid was embarrassed to be depending on someone or surprised that anybody was willing to help him, or both, but seeing him all flustered and humbled was strangely charming. The only feedback he earned was a low sound from Kyungsoo, and that was all they said until they reached their room.

Assisting the tan boy more than he probably actually needed, Xiumin guided him to his bed and chucked the blanket to the side so he wouldn't lie down on top of it and fall asleep uncovered.

"Tell me if you start feeling worse so I can call someone or get you to the nurse, okay?"

Kyungsoo rocked his head forwards and backwards before wholly falling back. Clearing his throat, he coughed out a quick thanks and then swung his blanket over his body. The top half of his face and the bottoms of his sneakers peeked out from beneath the cotton. With his own version of a "teehee," Xiumin went to untie and remove the other boy's shoes. Kyungsoo must have passed out as soon as he'd leaned back, because he didn't move at all as his helper freed his feet from their confines.

As sure as he could be that Kyungsoo was comfortable, Xiumin sat on his own bed and tugged off his shoes. Lying down, he caught sight of his phone on the night stand next to him. He hadn't even thought about it while he was running around campus earlier.

Peering at the bright screen through a haze of tiredness, Xiumin smiled at the series of texts that Chen had sent him over the day. Every message but a select few was a smiley face or random jumble of letters that made no sense. The ones that mattered most were those that said, 'Where are you?', 'i'm gonna find you!', and 'I'm coming by after class. let's go somewhere fun!' Of course, those were accompanied by emoticons as well. Knowing Chen's last class had just begun and would end an hour from now, he didn't feel the need or have the strength to reply, and he didn't even check to see if his phone was set to fall asleep before he did.

Xiumin swore his eyes had only been closed for one second before there was a knock at the door.

He shoved himself up off of his mattress and shuffled to the door, yawning as he went. Swinging it open, he whined, "Chen, I'm sorry, but I'm too tired for this..." When his eyes fully opened he became aware that the person in front of him was not who he had been expecting.

"Um, it's _Chanyeol_..." the tall young man said, curling his hands together out of timidity, "I guess D.O. told you I was coming today? Er, I mean Kyungsoo did?"

Xiumin had been gaping the whole time Chanyeol talked and for a second they stared awkwardly until Xiumin started shooting off a few nervous, breathy noises. "Ah- no- yeah! I mean, I forgot, but yeah! Oh man, please come in." He moved and then jumped right back in the way, shout-whispering, "Wait, no, don't!"

Chanyeol stood there and gave him a wide-eyed stare and an tense smile. There was a pang in Xiumin's chest as he realized how loudly he'd been speaking, and he ever-so-slowly eyed Kyungsoo over his shoulder to make sure they had not woken him. Seeing that the boy had not moved since he'd lain on the bed, the elder roommate exhaled soundlessly and tip toed out the door.

Chanyeol did not notice that the smaller man was taking steps, that or he was under too much stress to make himself move, but either way he stood stiff as a board when Xiumin closed the door and took the space directly in front of him. Xiumin was similarly blind to their closeness until his upper arm pressed against Chanyeol's ribcage. Xiumin turned around and almost bumped the side of his face on Chanyeol's chin, but by then the huge boy had relayed the message from his brain to his limbs that he ought to take at least one step back.

"Yo-" a familiar merry voice carried from down the hallway before trailing off, "...oh?" Chen walked over, his hand dropping before he finished his excited wave. The bright smile on his face became something more distrustful as he took a look at the new face (which was despicably close to his friend's...). "_Hey_," he said in an alarmingly friendly tone, "What's up, guys?" Moving quickly but looking perfectly calm and graceful, he went to Xiumin's side and strung his arm around his shoulders, appreciating how Chanyeol backed up even more.

"Ah, Chen," Xiumin peeped, repeatedly patting Chen's chest for no reason, "This is Chanyeol. He's Kyungsoo's friend and Kyungsoo was going to show him around today, but he's not feeling well." Chanyeol had been listening in, which Xiumin probably knew, but the small man still turned to him with an apologetic gaze to say, "Yeah, Kyungsoo isn't feeling well, but if you still want to check out the dorms, I guess I could..."

"We can show you around," Chen beamed, giving Xiumin's shoulder a visible squeeze. Twiddling his thumbs, Chanyeol glanced at the door behind the two older guys, mentally willing Kyungsoo to perceive his distress. In the two or three seconds he had to strain to unlock a psychic ability, his newly appointed tour guides' faces began to fall. A short "ahem" from Chen brought his head down from the clouds.

"Oh, sure! Yeah... that'd be nice, thanks." With the tight-knit positioning of his eyebrows and the incessant wiggling of his fingers, Chen and Xiumin were not sure those words were truthful. But that did not matter, and time was of the essence, so Chen wiggled right between the others and started them on their way.

"Are you new here?" Chen asked the teenage fountain of awkwardness once they had all gotten their steps in sync.

"No! Ah, well, this is my first year here, but I've been here all semester."

"Ah, I see... I guess I can't expect to know everyone here, but you'd better make sure you know _us_."

"Oh, ok... Wait, why?"

"See, me and my friend here are special," Chen clucked, rubbing his nose in a display of confidence. "You're pretty lucky you ran into Minseok, because when there's Minseok, there's Jongdae..." Chanyeol alternated between gawking at Chen, studying people in the halls, and watching his feet, saying, "uh-huh," and not mentioning how he had no clue who or what those names he just said were. "...I'm Jongdae, he's Minseok, by the way..."

'_Ok, that was convenient,_' thought Chanyeol.

"...and I might as well let you know that we have super powers."

'_Hfgjhfgjfjdfjl,_" thought Chanyeol.

Narrowly avoiding a group of friends at his left, Chanyeol got all up in Chen's face and said, "Ah- so are you a telepath? My friend is one of those, too! But me, I can control fire! It comes and goes, but yeah." A few people, Chen and Xiumin among them, flinched at Chanyeol's sudden burst of excited chatter. Xiumin had been in the process of punching Chen's shoulder for spouting "total nonsense, haha, _funny_ Chen!" but now they were both giving the newbie open-mouthed stares.

"Hey, hey, hey," Chen hissed, his previous cockiness completely dissolved from his features as he raised a hand to lower the volume, "Don't play. Are you serious?"

Chanyeol gave him his signature dumb-founded toddler look and whispered, "Yeah... aren't you?"

The over-twenty pair looked about ready to explode.

Behind them, a couple of guys off in their own world started laughing and giving each other high-fives over something one had on his phone, and the quieted threesome were reminded that they were in a public school and whispering secrets with people around might _not _actually keep them safe.

"Hey, while we've got time, let's just go to my room," Chen suggested, pushing Chanyeol and Xiumin along. Kind of disappointed to have been walking this long and not have learned anything about the dorms, Chanyeol just agreed to go.

"What's your name, anyway?" Chen asked, and Xiumin raised his eyebrows over how rude his friend had been tonight. Chanyeol, ever polite, answered and apologized like he was at fault for Chen not bothering to learn his name in the first place.

"Chanyeol, huh?" Chen chuckled, opening his door, "Well, damn, Chanyeol I'm liking you a lot more than I thought I would!"


End file.
